The Republican Governors Association is once again requesting information on whether consumer watchdog Richard Cordray is mulling a run for Ohio governor even as he serves as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The organization announced today that it has sent the CFPB a second Freedom of Information Act request for records that would indicate that Cordray is actively pursuing a run. Doing so would potentially violate the Hatch Act, a law that bars some in the executive branch from participating in political activity while serving.
The public records request seeks information including correspondence between Cordray and prominent Democratic operatives in the state; a copy of Cordray’s government-issued cell and office phone records from June 1 through the present and a copy of Cordray’s schedule from June 1 on.
This is the second public records request the organization has made in the last two weeks; earlier in August, the group requested that Cordray turn over all e-mails between his office and a wide variety of people in Ohio, including former Ohio Democratic Chairman David Leland, Democratic fundraiser Melissa Barnhart, Cleveland Plain Dealer political columnist Brent Larkin and GateHouse Media, owners of The Dispatch, The Canton Repository and other Ohio newspapers.